Gearing up for Christmas

Less than THREE weeks until Christmas! How exciting!

Along with the season comes decorating, gift buying, and my favourite - baking!

We have some pretty long standing items that get made every Christmas. Without them I sort of feel like it wouldn't quite be Christmas time....so I've been on top of my game this year so I have things ready to go for when baby #2 decides to show up. My tree is decorated, all my Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers have been bought, and I'm half way through my baking. (Last week I could have said two-thirds done my baking buuuuut I ate a whole bunch so I have to make some more!)

Yesterday Chad went to his Christmas party - I didn't go since we had to put our names onto the guest list quite early and I really, really hoping to have this baby in my arms already (oh well...) - so I kept myself occupied with cookie decorating.

I love that ziploc bags double as piping bags so I decided to go a little fancier than a bowl of icing and a knife like I usually do. The trees turned out my favourite!

I also made candied almonds earlier this week.

I will be making at least another batch, or three, as Chad and I (okay, I'll be honest.....it was pretty much all me) ate the whole first batch already! They're just SO delicious. Sweet, salty, crunchy. Yum!

And this is what happens when you eat too much Christmas baking....you get a big belly like Santa. I'm not actually pregnant - this is the result of eating all the candied almonds *wink wink*

I'm kidding, I'm kidding....39 weeks pregnant today and very impatiently awaiting this little one's arrival!

Comments

How to Meal Plan

Happy October! So. I took on the task of meal planning again yesterday and decided to try doing it for the entire month of October; just like I did all of September last time. I am accustomed to doing two week planning but decided to buckle down and do the entire month again. It was a lot harder this time around! I think it was due to the fact that I just don't have the same volume of stuff in the freezer to use so I had to come up with meals that both used up things in the house AND required new items to be bought. Last month was strictly using up what I had in the house already (except dairy and veggies) so I knew exactly what I had to work with. This time was much more open-ended; I'm coming to learn that I do better when I have less options to choose from. I actually find it quite daunting to have limitless possibilities. I figured I would walk you guys through my meal planning process. I had a friend of mine do the same a while ago (check her out here ) and i...

Surgery, Recovery, and Christmas

Hey everyone!! I can't believe it has been so long since I last wrote on here. It makes me realize just how crazy busy we were over the holidays - well, over the entire month of December, really. We are now into 2016. Can you believe it?! Another year has come and gone, and now we stand in the first days of a new one. What will this next year hold? Your guess is as good as mine. I have grand dreams and goals for myself and my family - so we shall see what 2016 brings to us! It feels like SO, so long ago already, but Julia had her frontal orbital advancement surgery on November 27th, 2015 just as planned. We had to be at the hospital bright and early like last time - 6:45am, with her last feeding at 2:45am. So once again, I set my alarm for 2:30am and got up to nurse her one last time before she began fasting. We arrived and went into pre-op. Got her dressed up in her little gown, and waited for the nurse to come take her away. It was both harder and easier this time. We knew ...

My September Grocery Challenge

Well here it is. My big idea for staying afloat in our finances for the month of September: I am only buying fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy the entire month. That's it. Nothing else. I also intend to do it for around $100 (max. $150). That works out to feeding the three of us for $25ish a week. Seems a little crazy though, huh? I think so. Like, really think about it. How much do you spend on your groceries every month? I'm slightly ashamed to say that I spend between $400-$500 a month on food and household items! For two adults and a toddler...and that's not including any eating out we might do. So, I've set myself on this challenge out of both necessity for our budget and my curiosity as to whether I can actually stick to the plan. I'm hoping that this will help break me out of some of my grocery buying habits. I've come to realize that I'm actually a bit of a grocery freak. I have trouble using up something in my fridge or pantry unless I buy a...

This Stay At Home Momma

Search This Blog